I did some painting on the garage over the weekend, and in between caught a few movies on DVD, and one actually in a theater.

You’ll marvel, I am sure, to learn that I was the only person in the country who hadn’t yet seen Pirates of the Caribbean. I’ve remedied that omission now.

There were some sword fights, which is (it goes without saying) always good. Having been watching Douglas Fairbanks movies recently, it was interesting to note that movie sword fights are basically what they were back then, except that Fairbanks’ old tricks are passé now, so that the choreographers have to come up with increasingly improbable new tricks.

Someday somebody may want to try a realistic fight. Just for the novelty of the thing.

Nah, that’ll never happen. Continue reading Weekend movies →

The story of the appalling shooting incident at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church seems extremely strange, judging from early reports.

The shooter is described as hating liberals and homosexuals. But he’s also described as hating the Bible and all churches.

He appears to have been a deranged man with a wide range of resentments.

In any case, his actions were evil.

I was composing a funny blog entry in my mind today. The premise was that I’d pretend to come clean with you, and admit that I’m not Lars Walker, Norwegian Avoidant has-been author, but Dwight Krupinsky, an insurance adjustor from Spokane with a wife and kids, who’s created this false identity for some reason I never entirely worked out.

It came to nothing, but I had identity on my mind.

Then I stopped for groceries after work, and used my credit card at checkout. I have an old credit card from a certain issuing bank, and it features a picture of me. The bank came up with the picture-on-the card gimmick on the theory that a card with the owner’s picture would be harder to use fraudulently (this was when a lot fewer people had internet access). I don’t think they’ve pushed the program for years, but every time they replace my card, it still has the picture.

It’s actually become counterproductive. Continue reading I’m not the man I used to be →

Here’s a picture of three members of the Declaration Committee, working hard on incorporating the 600th revision requested by the Continental Congress, in wool suits and without benefit of a word processor. You can tell by the look on Jefferson’s face that he’s about ready to knock those bifocals off Franklin’s puss and tell him, “If you know a better way to put it than ‘Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes…’ then why don’t you just do the next draft yourself, you old gout-sack?”

But they soldiered on, and did one another no recorded violence. Such were the sacrifices that bought us our liberty.

Some pertinent quotations from each of the three:

“Let me add that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” (Benjamin Franklin, 1789.)

“(R)eligion and virtue are the only foundations, not only of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all governments and in all combinations of human society.” (John Adams in a letter to Benjamin Rush, Aug. 28, 1811.)

“God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed their only sure basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that those liberties are the gift of God?” (Thomas Jefferson. One of the quotations inscribed in the Jefferson Memorial, Washington D.C.)

(The quotations above are all found in Christianity and the Constitution, by John Eidsmoe.)

This global cooling we’re obviously experiencing means we had a pretty dismal spring, but summer so far has been rather splendid. Tonight was exquisite, and there were dragonflies around Crystal Lake.

I love dragonflies. They look sort of like little airborne Viking ships, and they search and destroy mosquitoes. That’s my idea of a good neighbor.



Mitch Berg over at Shot In the Dark memorializes the charge of the First Minnesota Regiment at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. It was one of the most remarkable battle actions in history, but it suffers in memory because it happened the same day that Joshua Chamberlain and his Vermonters* had that little dustup you saw in the movie Gettysburg.

I was a corresponding member of the First Minnesota reenactment group back in the ’80s, but I was unemployed at the time and unable to buy equipment and so become active. It was my destiny to be a Viking, and I guess that’s for the best. For one thing, it’s more authentic to be a fat Viking than a fat Civil War soldier.

Ever argue with somebody about homosexual marriage? Then you’ve heard the question, “What harm does it do to your marriage if two men or two women get to enjoy the same institution?”

This is, of course, a diversionary tactic. Obviously nobody’s going to break into your home and force you to become a sodomite. (Not right away, anyway.) The effects on individual families will happen over a long period of time. The immediate effects will be on your ability to do business and to practice your religion freely.

Think I’m being alarmist? Read this column from Patrick McIlheran in the Milwaukee Journal (link from Feddie at Southern Appeal). And don’t think it’s just businesspeople who’ll be forced to violate their consciences. It’ll be church schools and charities and parachurch organizations too. The churches themselves will come under the hammer a little later, but it’ll happen.

Note in particular the comments below the column. Notice how people are saying, in essence, “Homophobes are bad, and bad people ought to be punished.” That’s what liberal openmindedness has sunk to: “I believe in freedom of conscience for all people, as long as they agree with me. If they disagree with me, of course, they’re wicked and must be purged.”

This election matters, because judges matter. Don’t kid yourself about that.

Meanwhile (now that I’ve depressed you sufficiently), enjoy Independence Day!

*Correction: Should read “Maine.” Thanks to Bill for the heads-up.

When the church body serves the organization instead of the other way round.

I did not know this man, and I’m sure it my loss. Denny Denson, a pastor in Franklin, Tennessee, for several years, has gone home to the Lord at age 68. He had been a Black Panther in the 70s and left it behind in ’79. Since then, he founded several non-profits and became a pastor.

One of his friends said, “Denny did have a gift of being able to encourage the leadership around him to step up. We realize that it’s impossible to fill Denny’s shoes. We’ve got to step up in our own way.”

Another friend said this:

“Denny Denson had an impact on my life in small ways and in profound ways. I met Denny 12 years ago through the Empty Hands Fellowship,” Bousquet said. “I was in awe that he was a member of the Black Panthers. I once told him I wished I was older so I could have participated in the civil rights movement, but he quickly shattered my idealistic dreams by sharing what a rough time it was.

“I love a quote Denny said that exemplified his life, ‘When nobody stirs up the pot, those at the bottom gets burned,’” Bousquet said. “Denny was always an advocate for the poor and the marginalized in our society. He was the founder and architect of Hard Bargain Mt. Hope Redevelopment. It was so important to him to preserve and revitalize this historic neighborhood because it is a significant part of Franklin’s history. His passion for workforce housing in our community was contagious. He cared deeply for low-income families and sought to be an advocate and a part of the solution to this titanic problem in Franklin.”